The Saskatchewan Roughriders lost 31-24 to the BC Lions at BC Place on September 25. Head coach Corey Mace said Saskatchewan did not create the turnover it needed on defence and did not execute an onside look on special teams. The result moved BC ahead of Saskatchewan in the West Division, with both clubs at 8-6.
Saskatchewan trailed 17-13 at halftime.
"We were in it, I thought, pretty much at half. I think we were down four points," Mace said. "The explosion plays came at bad times. Ultimately, I thought we needed to create a turnover. We couldn't get one there. We just got to tighten up, I thought, on defense."
BC's Tempo
Mace pointed to BC's no-huddle approach, saying the Lions used tempo to move Saskatchewan out of its personnel packages.
"It was essentially anytime they got a first down, they go no-huddle, try to get you out of different personnel packages. And then when they were getting down in the red zone, they were going quick. I think it caught us once or twice for sure, not being able to get into the calls that we wanted," Mace said.
He said Saskatchewan has built-in calls for no-huddle situations and did not execute on at least one occasion. "I know for sure one of them we did not. But ultimately, we gotta be prepared in those situations. I thought in the second half we were able to adapt a little bit better, get us all on the same page. But credit to those guys, they did a good job as a football team."
The Challenge and the Onside Look
Mace was asked about the challenge flag he threw looking for offensive pass interference during BC's third-quarter touchdown drive. Officials upheld the call on the field after video review, and Nathan Rourke finished the drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jevon Cottoy.
"I saw the hand extended off of the conversations that I've had with the officials from the league office. I thought it was certainly enough. Ultimately it wasn't, man. It was a big momentum play for them, I thought, enabled us to get us into a situation that we can push to get off the field there and flip the field for us and give our offense the ball a little bit in a better situation. Ultimately didn't work out, so that's on me, man. I just got to be better in those moments for our football club," Mace said.
Mace also referred to a special teams onside look. "Had a chance there on the special onside kind of look that we had. We didn't quite execute it well," Mace said.
A.J. Ouellette Back in the Lineup
Mace said the return of running back A.J. Ouellette helped the offence. "I was pretty pleased with the offense for the most part. I thought our run game was physical. The boys played good up front. It was good having AJ back," Mace said.
Ouellette, playing his first game back after missing time with injury, ran 19 times for 77 yards and a touchdown.
"I don't know about offensive star. I don't know how many carries I had. I should have had well over 100 yards. Felt like I left some yards out there. O-line played well," Ouellette said.
Asked how his body responded after sitting out, Ouellette said it held up. "It felt good, man. It sucks that I sat for so long, body's feeling good, and still couldn't come through with the win."
Communication Up Front
Ouellette said he saw communication breakdowns on the offensive line. "There's some communication issues that I saw out on the field I'm going to address with the O-line and myself and make sure everybody's on the same page. It doesn't matter if we have the wrong call. If we're all running the wrong call, we're gonna execute it well," he said.
He described how those corrections get made. "If it's an individual issue with me and another player, we're seeing things differently, that'll be a simple text or a phone call. But for the majority of it, you need everybody thinking as one. That's the most important thing when it comes to a run game. You get all 5 up front and the running back thinking as one, you're gonna have a deadly run game."
Ouellette said Saskatchewan ran plays against BC it had not used in a game. "We had some new plays out there that we haven't ran in a game yet. I'm excited to see what kind of adjustments we can do with them."
Health Check
Mace said the team came out of the game without new injuries. "I just talked with the trainers. Ultimately how that always ends up going is there was nothing, nobody that we missed during the game. But we'll see tomorrow and the next day how that goes."
Saskatchewan hosts Calgary at Mosaic Stadium on October 2. "Like I told the guys, we just gotta work our ass off. We got 4 and change left to put ourselves in position to go do what we set out to do," Mace said.
Watch the Full Videos
Saskatchewan Roughriders: Corey Mace | September 25th Post-Game
Saskatchewan Roughriders: A.J. Ouellette | September 25th Post-Game